About Me

Friday, April 26, 2013

Where was Hillview Estate before the war?

Seems like a strange question here on this blog, but I am very sure most of you will not know there was a pre-war Hillview Estate until you have read this article.

Not the HDB-built estate of the 1980s at Hillview Avenue which was also commonly known as Hillview Estate. This was built long after the war.
Is it the private estate centered around Jalan Zamrud and Jalan Intan? Again no, that's called Popular Estate. Princess Elizabeth Estate was also located off Hillview Avenue but it was not the Hillview Estate that was named as such. So where was Hillview Estate?

'Hillview Estate' pre-dated both Princess Elizabeth Estate as well as Hillview Avenue itself.
Hillview Avenue, as we know it, did not exist at that time. That area was all rubber plantations then.
In fact, this Hillview Estate was a pre-war development. I have been searching for this place for a very long time and even though I had a rough idea of where it was, I was also mistaken till recently.

As some of you might know, besides writing these blogs, I also indulge myself as a WW2 enthusiast.
I read all about the war, especially the events in Singapore and do consider myself quite passionate in this aspect. In fact, I can give you a day by day, unit by unit, account of the Japanese invasion during WW2 from the crossing on 8th Feb to the surrender on 15th Feb 1942.

In 1942, Maj-General Gordon Bennett was the commander of all Australian forces in Singapore. He was in charge of the defence for the entire Western Region of Singapore, i.e. Jurong, Choa Chu Kang, Lim Chu Kang, Kranji and Bukit Timah regions. This being the case, he established his divisional army headquarters centrally at Hillview Estate.
This explains its significance and why I had this eagerness to find its location. Also, the fact that it was called 'Hillview' in relation to this blog that I write, which is mainly about the present Hillview area.

Initially, I was misled by some old war records which had sketches marking the wrong location. They gave this at Jurong Road near where today's Signature Park Condominium or the old Lam Soon Cannery was.

A few days ago, I was in contact with Jon Cooper who is a battlefield archeologist working on the Adam Park Project in Singapore. He had recently made a number of short Youtube videos about the battle at Bukit Timah. It was in one of those clips, that suddenly I spotted the words "Hillview Estate"

This is a screen capture from Jon Cooper's Youtube so the details are not so clear but can you see Hillview Estate? I hope to get the actual 1938 map from Jon soon.
(Please click on the links to see Jon Cooper's Youtube clips and his Adam Park Project)

Hillview Estate was located between Margaret Avenue and De Souza Ave, off Jalan Jurong Kechil.
Today, only a very short stretch of De Souza Ave still exists.
Margaret Avenue was expunged decades ago when the kampong there was resettled.Hillview Estate no longer exists there and was replaced by another housing development on the same site. Access to this present site is now via Upper Bukit Timah View.
You can see De Souza Ave and Margaret Ave marked as tracks in the 1938 map above.

The red lines marks the original roads (tracks) in 1942.

If you are still confused why the above map show Jalan Jurong Kechil as Jurong Road, an old blog article here will explain it all.

Looking across from Jalan Jurong Kechil where Hillview Estate would have been.
De Souza Ave is on the right while Margaret Ave would be at the other end of the football field.